Jimmy Kimmel proved that a real “Friends” reunion would look stupid
Kimmel's viral sketch reuniting the female cast "established once and for all how stupid this reunion would be by demonstrating how stupid this reunion would be,” says Verne Gay. "The characters are older (much older), and those who played them are stars in their own right, with their own bodies of shows and movies -- most of all, the lead female characters. They've moved on, and so should fans.”

Examining the state of black cast members on “SNL”
Sure, “Saturday Night Live” has three black cast members. But, says Wesley Morris, Maya Rudolph’s "dynamism and sense of showbiz hasn’t been replaced, either. And it’s left a bitterness in the culture that you felt in last year’s complaints about there being no black women on the show. You felt it in the writer Leslie Jones’s shocking 'Weekend Update' editorial in which she speculatively raged about her sexual undesirability as a big, black woman. It was both a moment of comedy and cultural expurgation. Her rant was as much about her as it was about the working conditions of her employer." PLUS: Graphing “SNL” ratings, “SNL’s” most essential/inessential musical guests, how Nasim Pedrad auditioned and left “SNL,” Sasheer Zamata gives advice from a grown woman, and examining “SNL” movies.

Remembering Phil Hartman, “The Glue” on “SNL”
With a biography on Hartman due out next month, it’s hard to explain why he was one of “SNL’s” most important cast members. Part of it, says Bryan Curtis, was "the unusual nature of Hartman’s talent. Hartman was so good at playing smarmy, air-quoting, golden-voiced sharpies — '20 percent droid,' said the writer Robert Smigel — that it’s difficult to catalogue all the comic notes he left behind in the universe.” PLUS: Remembering Hartman’s “Simpsons” characters, including Troy McClure.

Jon Stewart talks about his “Daily Show” future and Stephen Colbert’s move to CBS
"I think there's been a beautiful arc to (‘The Colbert Report,’” he says. "But it was time” for Colbert to move on, he says. As for his own future, Stewart tells The Hollywood Reporter: "Uh, yeah. I mean, like anything else, you do it long enough, you will take it for granted, or there will be aspects of it that are grinding. I can't say that following the news cycle as closely as we do and trying to convert that into something either joyful or important to us doesn't have its fraught moments. But there will come a point where I'm sure …” He then trailed off. PLUS: Watch Stewart's “Rosewater" movie trailer.

Stop asking if Tony Soprano lived or died!: David Chase has always held off on giving a definitive answer
That’s why Matt Zoller Seitz wasn’t buying the Vox article earlier today claiming that “The Sopranos” creator did indeed give a definitive answer: "The point is, since 2007 Chase has never straightforwardly explained precisely what he meant to do with the end of 'The Sopranos,' despite having been asked about it in interviews and public appearances," says Seitz. "There have been moments where he seemed to be on the verge of spelling it out for us. He always caught himself and pulled back. But that never stopped people from seizing on certain words or phrases in order to crow, 'See, I toldja! Tony died! David Chase said so!’"